THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606270431
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BETSY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 73 lines
A question looms over the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as it begins its sixth annual meeting today in Richmond: Should the moderate offshoot of the conservative-led Southern Baptist Convention form a separate national denomination?
Last year, the fellowship appointed a commission to study the possibility of splitting from the convention, whose 15.6 million members make it the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
That commission will release its report during this year's meeting, although organizers of the fellowship say a formal vote on a split isn't likely to happen this year.
Clint Hopkins, president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, will attend the fellowship meeting. Hopkins, senior pastor of Churchland Baptist Church in Chesapeake, said Virginia has one of the most moderate state associations in the nation.
``Most Virginia Baptists,'' Hopkins said, ``acknowledge the importance of supporting both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.''
The religious and political gulf dividing the two national groups, which began in 1990 in a struggle over the literal interpretation of the Bible and budgetary spending, grew wider earlier this month.
At its annual meeting in New Orleans, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to boycott Walt Disney Co., as a denunciation of the entertainment giant's extension of health benefits to the companions of homosexual employees and its release of movies with adult themes and language.
The convention also voted to intensify its efforts to convert Jews to Christianity, which prompted outrage from many Jewish and Christian leaders involved in interfaith relations.
Both of those votes are expected to prompt much discussion among the 6,000 delegates at the fellowship meeting, because many of them do not support either of those stands. However, Hopkins and others said they doubt those decisions will be enough to spur immediate action.
``The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is not a reactor to the Southern Baptist Convention,'' Hopkins said. ``I do, however, expect to hear a lot (about those two decisions) in the corridors. But I don't expect an official statement about either of them.''
In Hampton Roads, there are about 105 Southern Baptist churches. There are 75 churches in the Norfolk Baptist Association, which represents Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, and about 30 churches in the Portsmouth Baptist Association, which includes parts of Suffolk.
The Rev. Marvin Settle, director of the Norfolk Baptist Association, said his group is divided: One third are conservative churches, linked to the convention; one third are moderate, with ties mainly to the fellowship; and one third are not politically oriented toward either group.
Settle estimated that about 25 area churches in his group will attend today's fellowship meeting and that 25 others attended the recent Southern Baptist Convention.
Hopkins, of Churchland Baptist, said he has not attended a Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting since 1990, the year many moderates felt ousted by the convention's swing toward conservatism.
``Most of us still feel very much like Southern Baptists,'' Hopkins said. ``We still cherish the Southern Baptists' rich tradition of democratic freedom and the priesthood of believers. Those things are still within me, but I just can't enthusiastically embrace the way (the convention) has gone in the last six years.''
Hopkins said part of the reason the fellowship has not declared itself a separate denomination is that many within it are biding their time, hoping - and praying - that the Southern Baptist Convention will swing back to the center.
Will it happen soon? Hopkins, 59, isn't optimistic. ``I just don't see that happening within the days of my professional career.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MEETING DETAILS
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm] by CNB